Sunday, May 30, 2010

BROWNIES NINE

These are definite contenders for the top spot on the brownie hit parade- high praise indeed, but they are really, really good. I had to stage an undercover rescue of these two at the coffee morning (didn't want to get into deep trouble with son #2 when he came home from school!!!), I'm really glad I did, as they were declared the best ever by said son. I did take a tiny taste and he could just be right!!

I found this recipe on the wonderful David Lebovitz's blog. A friend from my book club mentioned seeing a dulche de leche brownie recipe on the internet, and I came home and looked them up immediately (as you do!), very glad I did - thanks Lisa.

I used a jar of Bonne Maman Confiture de Caramel for the caramel part of the recipe, although I usually make caramel by boiling the unopened tin of condensed milk in a pan full of water for about three hours. Next time I make them I think I will do this, as David's brownies had more distinct pieces of caramel than mine, and I think that would help.

My one concern before I made the brownies was that they would be too sweet, but this wasn't the case, they had a perfect level of sweetness, and chocolatiness. Texture wise, they were just right - the perfect combination of squdiginess and cakeiness (my old English teacher would be so proud!!). They are at the top of my "try again" list.

Melt the butter and chocolate in a saucepan at a low/medium heat.
Remove from the heat and whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth.
Add the eggs one at a time amalgamating well.
Stir in the sugar, vanilla extract and then the flour.
Pour half this mixture into the tin.
Spoon in one third of the caramel over the batter, then drag a knife through to make swirls.
Spread the remaining brownie batter over this.
Then dollop spoonfuls of the remaining caramel over the top.
Use a knife to swirl the caramel slightly.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, until the top has that perfect brownie glaze and the center feels just slightly firm.
Allow to cool in the tin on a cooling rack.
Divide into 12 brownies when completely cold.

8 comments:

I like that all the ingredients are pretty much pantry staples :) I've found boiling my own cond. milk gives a better flavour than the store bought cans of caramel - but of course, if it was a choice between that an no brownie, it'd be the can of caramel every time... I can sense a massive insulin hit for these hehehe YUM!!!

I love Dulce de Leche. There is a great jar one from Waitrose from South America that I used to buy but it was so good I would eat it from the jar before I managed to bake with it. I had to stop buying it to restrain my waistline. I would love one of these brownies - another recipe to add to my ever growing list of must-tries.

Oh yum, I've seen a few of these around and they are definitely on my list - thanks for reminding me. That's a good tip about making your own dulce de leche - thank you. No problems with exploding tins or anything?

About Me

How do I describe myself?
I'm a mother, daughter, wife, sister, aunt and friend.
I'm also a cook, a baker, an eater, and most importantly a feeder. I love to feed people, I love the feeling when something I have cooked just hits the spot.
I am also a reader (although often of cookery books!) a bookclub member, an infrequent theatre goer.
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That's who I am today!!